OTE: Eternal
by Twilight-Flame337
Summary: A battle was lost, but something else was born. Something more important than one life. Now, the deciding factor of one woman's life has been stolen, and between an uprising, a grudge and a forbidden love, it's up to her to get it back.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: As I promised, one week later, here is the new first chapter. Thanks to everyone who's been sticking with Eternal, and thanks to LittleSpooky for reviewing every single time. Without further ado, Eternal, take two.**

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Rhea drummed her fingers on her desk, her eyes absently combing the forest outside of her window. She could hear the crackling flames that were burning in the distance and she knew that the Ruler was getting closer. The demon blood she had inherited from her mother was burning inside of her, straining against the force of her free will, trying to reach him. One slip would be all her malevolent heritage would need to come skyrocketing to the surface, overtaking Rhea and her common sense. She couldn't remember how long it had taken her to change back the last time, and with a demon force as strong as the Ruler's, she knew her demonic blood would be content to never change back.

It had been a long few months since the Ruler had returned, stronger than ever and with a strong right-hand man who was infinitely more powerful than the first-rate demons he usually relied upon. This man had power in his own right and, along with the power leant to him by the Ruler, was a worrisome adversary. Together, the two had already occupied several key villages near the capital and were moving outwards in a slow spiral, taking the freedom of every village with them.

Rhea had, years ago, been granted an unofficial Ruling position over the realms. After Sara had rejected the formal position, she had turned it and its responsibilities over to Rhea. Sara was still technically the formal Ruler, though Rhea undertook all the work that the title entailed when Sara was away. Now, with the arrival of the old oppressive Ruler, neither Rhea nor Sara were holding the title. It weighed more heavily on Rhea since she lived the majority of her life in the realms while Sara still spent most of her time in the moral world with the powerless race of people she didn't belong to.

"They're getting closer." Violet, a powerful mind-reader and one of Rhea's closest friends, drooped against the doorframe to Rhea's small office.

"Sit down before you fall over." With a twitch of her hand, Rhea sent a chair skidding away from the desk.

"Neat trick." Violet sunk into the chair with a sigh. "They're razing Garre."

"That's only a couple miles away." Rhea chewed her lip thoughtfully. "We're going to have to move again."

Violet sighed once more. "We've been hopping from hideout to hideout for weeks. We need to make a stand."

"We don't have the power for a standoff - not the magical power, not the manpower. We're stuck in a tight spot."

"I agree, but if we let them keep pushing us around, we'll slip up. Everything's already disorganized because of the last move. We can't keep living like this."

"I know, I know." Rhea wiped a weary hand over her eyes. "We'll...I don't know."

"I have an idea." Violet said, her eyes sparking slightly. "You won't like it, but it'd help."

Rhea saw her friend's plan instantly. "She wouldn't come."

"I know, I know. But we need her. She has duties here that she can't neglect."

"She wants to."

"Hey, if I were in her position, I would too. But the fact of the matter is that this is the hand we've been dealt and we're going to have to make the best out of it."

Rhea looked out the window and sighed. She knew Violet was right. While Rhea was a good leader - strong, fair, powerful and utterly devoted - she wasn't _the _leader. She wasn't the face or the name of the rebellion, not the person her people needed to see to be motivated. She couldn't will them into action with one word, couldn't ask them to die for her with one action. From her, they needed convincing and a stable base. From their Leader, all they needed was a look.

Outside, a thick plume of smoke rose from the horizon. It was a small pillar, but Rhea knew that it would be massive up close. And that destruction was slowly making its way towards her, her people and her home.

"Fine," She couldn't look at Violet as she said it, couldn't linger on the thought of the choice she was forcing her leader to make. All she could think of was the people _here_, and she knew the decision was right. "Do it."


	2. Chapter 2

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**Thanks to ImNotAPrincess and Sophie for the lovely reviews. I appreciate them, especially since this story has already happened before, in one way or another. Hope you enjoy it! **

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Speeding down the road at twice the legal limit, windows open and music blaring, Victoria felt like her life should have been a movie. She flew past a police cruiser, instinctively strengthening the glamour that hid her illegally-driven, magically-acquired, law-breaking automobile. The police officer didn't even give her cloaked presence a passing glance.

"I _love_ magic," Victoria screamed, laughing manically as the driver in the next lane looked around in confusion. The way her mother talked about the powers they both possessed, Victoria had grown up expecting each new technique to be a burden, but so far she didn't mind any of it. Not being able to use her magic - overtly, at least - in the mortal realms was a nuisance, but she had always managed to slip it in here and there, spelling a couple test answers to be correct, giving her appearance an extra boost in the morning and driving illegally were only a few of them.

She cut her speed back as she turned onto her street, driving just over a reasonable speed. Part of her suspected that her mother knew how many laws she was breaking with the car she wasn't supposed to have, but magic wasn't something Sara could take away.

Victoria regarded her house for a moment, then placed a hand on her front door and changed the paint colour to a shockingly bright blue. She laughed and trailed her hands along the walls of her front hall, letting the paint run through the whole colour spectrum at her will.

"Victoria?" She heard her mother's voice from the other room and took her hands off the walls. No matter what she did with her magic outside of the house, she kept it in check around her mother. Even though she lived in the mortal world most of the time, her blood still followed magical rule, which placed Sara _much _higher above her based on latent power. That same magical blood screamed at her to obey Sara or face the possibility of a very uncomfortable death. Victoria knew her mother would never hurt her, but her blood didn't.

"Hi."

"How was school?" Her mother voice was tight, which wasn't right. Victoria lightened her footsteps, moving almost silently. If there was somebody in the house set on hurting Sara, who had enough power to force tension into her voice, Victoria would need every ounce of predatory grace she could get.

"Fine." She straightened as she eased around the door, surprised to see Rhea's face instead of the assailant she had been expecting. "Hi!"

"Hey, Vic." Rhea smiled, brushing a strand of strawberry-blonde hair out of her eyes. Her hair was messy, but she carried herself with enough dignity to make it seem intentional. "Long time."

"I know. Mom's been busy."

"Apparently." Rhea's smile faltered as she looked at Sara, her eyes flashing.

"Something wrong?"

"No." Her mother said, looking into her daughter's eyes intently. Sara had always been a formidable liar.

"Oh. Staying for dinner, then?"

"I thought maybe _you _could come over for dinner." Rhea said. "How about it?"

"You think you're being strategic, asking it like that? My answer is still the same." It was as if Sara had forgotten Victoria's presence entirely, so focused was she on Rhea.

"Still wrong."

"Don't make me pull rank."

"Try it. See how far it gets you." Rhea ran a hand through her hair, more to pull it out than to tidy it. The strands her fingers had touched faded to a dark, deep black.

"I'll make a salad if you make pasta. Everybody likes Italian." Never mind that it was half past three and no time for dinner. Victoria just wanted whatever was going on between her mother and one of her closest friends to _not _be going on.

"Good idea," Rhea flashed her another brilliant smile. "I like caesar."

"I like oil and vinegar. You'll just have to cope." Victoria smiled and side-stepped into the kitchen. Despite their low voices, Victoria could hear Rhea and her mother over the noise she tried to make with the utensils.

"A little diplomacy is a good idea sometimes. She doesn't need to hear."

"What is there to hear? I've already said no and that answer isn't going to change."

"Sara, you're being ridiculous. We are in _danger_, and you have obligations you just can't ignore."

"Yes, obligations to _this life_. To _her life_. You think I would bring her into the middle of a war zone? Leave her here alone, or better yea leave her here with _him_? You think he wouldn't figure it out if he had the chance?"

"I understand, but we need you right now. Possibly more than she does. I can't do what you can do. Can't inspire them like you can. They need a leader, and that leader just isn't me."

"Need me more than she does?" Sara said fiercely. "_Nobody _needs me more than she does."

"Yes, but..." Rhea sounded conflicted. "You know I love her, Sar, so don't take this the wrong way, but her life is.." She stopped speaking, considering.

"Is one compared to thousands?" Sara's voice burned, "Say it, Rhea. Tell me that her life isn't important. Just _think _it and see what I'll do to you."

"That's not what I meant."

"Like hell it's not. You don't understand how life is for us."

"That was unwarranted." Rhea's words came out as sheets of ice - cold, flat and so close to giving way that breathing was barely an option.

"I'd like you to leave. Now."

"Not unless you come with me."

Victoria gave up all pretence of making a salad and listened as both women's movements stilled, waiting for her to start making noise again. They wanted the same facade of normalcy as she did.

"Rhea, what do you - " Victoria's words died on her lips as she left the kitchen. She had held the image in her head of the two women invading each-other's personal space, one step away from a cat fight, battling with harsh words and nothing more. Instead, they were on opposite sides of the room, Sara's hands gleaming fiercely blue-green and Rhea's entire dark body ablaze, held taut, curved towards the sword in her hands.

"Whoa." Stepping between them, Victoria could feel the heat of their anger. It was a physical presence in the room, manifested through magic, coating her like a sheet of static electricity. "Rhea, what do you want her to do?"

"Come back with me." Rhea said tightly, torn between her hatred towards Sara and the soft affection she always showed Victoria. It did strange things to her appearance, half of her light, half dark.

"She wants me to go back and _die_." Sara spat.

"You're immortal." The static in the room surged as Rhea's light side dissolved completely.

"You would kill me yourself if you had the chance, you filthy little - "

"_Enough_." Victoria threw her arms up, sending shoots of blue and gold from her outstretched hands. They hit the two unsuspecting women hard, sending them both sprawling to the floor. They were both up in a flash, but their eyes were on Victoria instead of one another.

"Oh."

"I thought - " A loud chime cut them both off. Victoria turned towards the door, cursing the bell for interrupting.

"Lovely." She growled, glaring at the two still-blazing women glaring at _each other_ once more. As she walked to the door, Victoria pictured a scene in her mind's eye. One with two women sitting on opposite sides of a game-board, each with glasses of wine, and one soda dripping to form a sticky ring on the table in front of an abandoned seat. She pictured the texture of the table, the wear on the game-board and the beads of water on the soda can, and when she opened her eyes it was all laid out in front of her, shimmering like a canvas - the most elaborate glamour she had ever constructed. For a moment, it took her breath away.

"Is everything alright, dear?" Their neighbour stood on the porch, her hands clasped in front of her. She tried to peer around Victoria without looking nosey, and failed. "I heard yelling."

"Yeah," Victoria was already embarrassed. That much wasn't an act. She opened the door wide to reveal her flawless scene. Behind it, she could see Rhea and Sara frozen in place. Victoria gestured to the game-that-wasn't. "Ever play?"

"No, I can't say I have."

"It's trivia." She hooked a thumb at the two women's likenesses. "They're competitive."

"She said Boston was in Alabama." Victoria sent the words into Sara's likeness's mouth, moving it in perfect time.

"Did not!" Victoria made Rhea's likeness sound like a valley girl, lilting the words upwards at the end of the sentence. Her neighbour smiled haughtily at the wine, then back at Victoria.

"I apologize for interrupting. Enjoy your evening." Victoria's creations still bickered in the background. "And by the way, I love your new door."

"Thanks," Victoria said, closing it behind her. "Did it myself." Then she threw down her arms and the glamour crashed down, cutting the two likenesses off mid-insult.

"You're - "

"Not. One. Word." Victoria could feel her magic wrap around her, activated by the adrenaline and pure anger coursing through her veins. She turned to Rhea. "Next time you do this, you do _not _do it in my house. I am taking you back to where you belong _right now_." She turned to Sara who, despite being Victoria's mother and Leader of a powerful rebel group in a powerful land, looked embarrassed. "And _you_ are coming with us."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I know this has been repeated more times than any of us cares to count, but thank you to everyone who has reviewed and thank you all for sticking with me. **

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The last thing Rhea expected to find in her office was Sara. Her friend was hunched over the dark wooden top, hands splayed over the scattered papers.

"If you're putting those out of order, I swear I'll kill you."

Sara looked up. "Were they in a particular order?"

"If I say yes, will you organize them for me?"

"Nice try." Sara gave Rhea a tired smile. "I didn't realize how much was going on. Is this recent?"

"All the activity? Not at all. It's actually been pretty light lately, since everything we're doing revolves around what the Ruler's doing. Cuts down on the amount of spies we need to send out, among other things."

"How come I've never noticed before?"

"You've never invaded my office before." Rhea sat on the corner of the desk on top of a stack of old reports. She readjusted her position as they slid under her weight, and then pierced Sara with a you-should-know gaze.

"You hide things from me?"

"Not hide, per se, but no, I don't tell you everything. Just like you don't tell me everything."

"Oh, that's ridiculous. I tell you everything you need to know."

"As do I."

"I should know about all of this." Sara swept a hand over the papers.

"And I should know about how advanced Victoria is, magically speaking. But you didn't tell me that, now did you?" Sara was silent, looking at a spot on Rhea's forehead instead of meeting her eyes.

"I didn't know." She said quietly.

"Like hell you didn't. You just didn't want to tell me because you knew I would insist that she be trained here."

"That is – "

"– absolutely correct, and we both know it. She was born a mage, she should be raised a mage."

"Let's not get into this now?" Sara massaged her eyes with the backs of her hands. "I'm exhausted."

"You have a bedroom, you know."

"I don't feel right leaving you with all of this work."

Rhea gave Sara an amused look. "You leave me with this much work every other day of the year. I don't see why today should be any different." But there was an air of contempt that she could not entirely conceal.

"Rhea…"

Rhea sighed, her energy suddenly gone. "Just go to bed. You'll do nobody any good if you're tired, and I don't need the same type of sleep you do."

"You wouldn't consider…" Sara paled.

"I have to. He's so damned close; it's all I can do to stay human at all."

"But it's…that's vampire stuff."

"They were born from the same general…stuff...that I was. Of course there are similarities."

"You get some sleep, I'll drink some coffee."

"You have a council meeting in the morning." Rhea said. "You're not used to it, I am. I can handle this, Sara, with or without you."

"With me, then." Sara sighed, hoisting herself from the chair with visible relief. "It is my job, after all."

Rhea watched her leave. "Could've fooled me." She whispered.

The night draped over the stone building like a heavy, endless blanket. It hung from the walls and dripped from the towers, speckled with a thousand small glittering points of light. A shape detached from the darkness, tearing from the building as if it were being chased by hell hounds. The figure looked back at the building, judging the distance and taking into account the exceptional hearing of one inhabitant.

The figure pitched forwards as its back exploded into a pair of glossy black wings shot through with silver. They unfurled like sails filling with wind, lifting their owner off the ground with every leap and bound. A crackling laugh tore from the person's throat – though not entirely a person any longer – devoid of humour or joy, but delighted all the same.

As the figure leaped into the air, its massive wings beating the air mercilessly, another shadowy form lurked behind, earthbound, shaking its head – whether in disgust or disbelief – and turned back towards the building.


	4. Chapter 4

**A\N: Thanks to Sophie for the nice review. **

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Standing underneath the vaulted ceilings of the council hall, Sara felt like an imposter. The imposing room was the oldest in the building and had the longest running history of almost any singular room in any of the eight realms. With its mural-covered high ceilings, intricately carved wooden furniture and air of progress, it was an intimidating room to be in.

Thousands of centuries earlier, when it had first been built, hundreds of mages had been employed to spell the room, its furniture, its decorations and every stone that made it up, to create an air of disquiet for any other then the Leader of whatever group was using it. As such, it allowed the Leader to wield a more complete power over others in the room. Should the Leader wish to exploit the patrons' discomfort, they could, the same way they could put a group at ease by sharing their own comfort with those around them. At least, that was how it was supposed to work.

The moment Sara stepped into the room, all she could feel was _cold_. She could feel the heat from the bodies in the room seeping into the stones; feel the buzz of their discomfort seeping into her own body. The chair reserved for her at the head of the table – beautiful dark wood carved with images of storms and surging animals – looked too big, like it would swallow her whole of its own accord. Rhea, sitting in a smaller chair, waved her over.

_You're late_. She let her voice speak in Sara's mind alone, not allowing her displeasure to show to anybody else, not undermining Sara's authority though she had a right to do so.

"I apologize for my tardiness." Sara said, sitting in the chair as regally as she could manage. The seat was hard and un-cushioned, the carvings underneath digging into her thighs.

"All is forgiven." Rhea said easily. She turned to the council. "We are here to discuss the plan of action concerning the Ruler's increasing presence in our land. We would hear the council of any who may offer a solution."

Sara nodded her accord. "Any who wish to speak may speak now."

A grey haired man she couldn't identify rose. He was tall and willowy, not hunched over as his age would suggest. Though she didn't know him by name, she identified him as an archivist by the signet ring on his right hand.

"In the past," he said. "When there has been a division of power between two groups, many Leaders have absorbed the authority of the opposing group and Led co-operatively. This not only eliminates the need for an offensive attack, but also lessens the possibility of rebellions from either side."

"Wise, but improbable." Sara said. "We would not associate with demons."

The archivist nodded and sat just as another, older woman rose. Unlike her predecessor, she was bent almost double with age, her skin hanging from her bones as if it had been left there to dry.

"The killed my boy." She rasped. "I say we destroy them all."

The council swelled with murmurs of agreement and disbelief. The women's cracked smile unfurled on her face. Violet stood on the opposite side of the table and leaned towards the woman.

"Do you have any idea how that would ruin us?" She asked quietly. The collective roar cut off suddenly, their eyes on the woman and the mind-reader.

"We would be _victorious_." The woman said, her eyes feverish. Violet turned to Sara.

"She knows how it would destroy us, yet she doesn't care." The council's eyes were hard on the woman.

"Do you not offer protection for villagers? Reimbursement for a death?"

"She wants revenge." Violet's eyes were closed against the onslaught of the woman's thoughts and memories. "She wants you to go into battle against the Ruler, to try and kill him again. She blames you for not protecting her son. She wants you to avenge him." Violet's purple eyes opened, fixed fiercely on Sara. "She wants you to _die_ trying."

Sara looked to the woman, then to the men standing on either side of the door. "Remove her."

The council watched as the woman was taken from the room, still raging under her breath. Sara's eyes followed their progression, but Rhea's gaze pierced the council – each member individually.

"If any others share this woman's opinion, I would suggest you remove yourselves before we are forced to do it for you."

On an unspoken signal, Violet looked at the council, picking out three members with a nod of her head. Rhea glared at them until they stood and disappeared through the doors.

"I hope we can get through the rest of this without any further distractions?" Rhea raised an eyebrow at the council. "Good. Let's continue."

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After the council members had all left, Rhea and Sara still remained. Rhea had relaxed her posture after the need for formality had been removed, but Sara was still rigid in her chair.

"They were so vocal." She said quietly. Rhea smiled sympathetically, noting her friend's shock with a slight but heavily concealed displeasure.

"They usually are."

"I don't remember that." She murmured.

"Things are different now." Rhea shrugged it off more easily than Sara ever could have. "Council meetings aren't as formally run. We need all the input we can get, and we can't risk somebody removing their support from the council because we didn't take their opinion."

"But we didn't even get anything from it. No solution, no plan of action, nothing."

"That's the way they usually go these days. We need five meetings where we only needed one before." Rhea smiled. "It's like pulling teeth, but it has to be done."

"We need some kind of action. We can't just let the Ruler keep pushing us around like this."

"What do you propose we do?"

Sara drummed her fingers thoughtfully on the table. "I'd like to do some looking around, get some information on what we're up against."

"Everything we have is on file in the basement, but it's not a lot."

"I need spies." Sara stood and wrapped her arms around herself. "Good ones that we can trust. Can you do that?"

"When do you want them by?"

"As soon as you can get them for me."

"Tonight?"

"Can you?"

"I can do anything." Rhea said fiercely. Sara raised her hands in surrender, but kept her eyes trained on her friend.

"Alright. Tonight, then. Midnight."

"I'll tell you where they'll meet you."

"Thanks." Sara's smile was grateful. "You're a godsend."

"I wouldn't say that." Though the rest of her looked innocent, Rhea's eyes were dark. "I want something in return."

"If I can give it to you, I will."

"Don't undermine me in front of the council."

Sara blinked.

"I barely said a word in front of the council."

"That's also a problem," Rhea conceded, "but what you _did _say was '_we would not associate with demons.'_ The backlash of that will be _hell _for me."

"Rhea," Sara's voice softened. "I didn't mean it like that. I didn't think -"

"Yeah, you didn't think. That's the whole problem."

Rhea stood and walked the perimeter of the room, letting her hands trail over the stone in the walls. Her shoulders were tense and her hand was too hard on the stones, her nails scraping grotesquely every so often.

"They already dislike me," She continued. "Simply because I'm not you. They want you but have to settle for me. Then there's my heritage, which is a whole other ball game. Do you know I've actually got a bunch of fundamentalists chasing after me with burning stakes in the name of racial purity?"

"I'm sorry." Sara bowed her head. "I didn't know."

"No, you really don't." Rhea's head was also bowed, but Sara expected that it was less out of shame than to hide whatever was making her voice so weak. "It's hard to live when there are so many people being so unnecessarily vicious towards you. Of course, you wouldn't know." She barked out a humourless laugh. "The sun rises and sets on you. You weren't born of a magical father who nobody trusts and a demon mother who nobody likes enough to try to. But," she added, "I came to terms long ago with the fact that I'm just not you."

"I didn't mean to make you seem inferior. When I spoke, I was thinking of full-blood demons, not half-bloods like you. You're practically human anyways, and that's how I've always seen you."

"Practically human." Rhea's hand brushed her hunched back. "They don't seem to think so."

"Well, I do." Sara said, lingering in the doorframe. "And that's the only thing that matters."

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**A/N: I always love reviews, so let me know what you think! Thanks for reading! **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks so much for everyone who's still reading. Thanks even more to Sophie and CSIvHP for the reviews that made my day. So, without further ado...**

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The spies refused to meet indoors. They refused to meet indoors, they refused to meet in any visible area, they refused to meet with any other than Rhea and Sara, but they didn't refuse a meet entirely. They had before, to Rhea and Sara both, but could never be punished for it because their skills were such an asset. Their lives were truly their own, unbound as they were. They met at midnight, tucked into a corner of the forest whose thick canopy allowed no moonlight to shine down upon them. Rhea and Sara had arrived first, though it was entirely possible that they were being watched from the treetops by the very people they were supposed to meet.

"I appreciate you coming." Sara said to them when they walked in. Their strides fell at the same time, making no noise on the forest floor. Though it was dark at their insistence, Sara could see the two spies perfectly. It almost hurt to see them, but in a good way. After so long, Sara had forgotten how much she missed them. Every trip she had made back, they were always otherwise occupied.

Rain looked the same as she always had, unchanged since the first time Sara had met her with a few minor changes. When Sara had given her a job in espionage, she had been lithe and cunning, but she had been weak. Now, even in the dark, Sara could see the wiry muscles in her arms and the exposed parts of her legs. She glowed with health, her white-blonde hair radiant and its turquoise blue streaks shining. But where Rain's obvious well-being sent a shot of pride through Sara, her companion's appearance sent a shot of something else.

Akona would have changed over the years, had Sara not opposed to it so strongly. As such, he looked almost exactly the same as he always had. Though his hair wasn't as long anymore – he said it got in the way – it was still mahogany and never entirely tidy. He was willowier than she remembered, but she suspected that was because it had been so long. No matter the reason, he looked exceptionally wonderful that night, shadows clinging to him and bathing him in an enticingly mysterious light in Sara's flawless vision.

"We would always come on your behalf." Rain snickered at Akona's words for a reason nobody but her understood.

"What I need," Sara continued. "is pretty basic. I just want accurate information – where they are, what they're doing, how many of them…that kind of stuff."

"Kid stuff." Rain's voice was still peppered with her earlier laughter.

"Not necessarily. From what I know, they're devious, cunning, powerful and cautious. It won't be easy to get close to them."

"Like I said, kid stuff." She smiled at Sara, half genuine, half taunting. "We're really, really good."

"You want to come with us, don't you." Akona, knew Sara too well. Though his statement – not a question because it wasn't one – had a ring of finality to it, she knew he didn't approve.

"I do."

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"If I can't do this, what kind of leader am I?"

"A smart one." Rain was serious now. As much friction she and Sara had experienced between them, she cared. "If something goes wrong, it's better if we take the fall for it _alone_."

"I'm your Leader, and I say I'm coming."

Akona drew himself up to his full 5 feet 9 inches and gave Sara a stern look. "I'm your spymaster, and I say you're not."

"I'll be careful." Sara said quietly. "You can give the instructions, I'll follow."

"If something goes south…"

"I'll run."

The two shared a look then, too serious to be regarded as anything other than a promise being made.

"Fine." Akona sighed and looked pleadingly skyward. Rain relaxed her posture, nonverbally ceding to his authority as spymaster. "You can come."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thanks to CSIvHP11 and Sophie for the great reviews, and thanks to everyone who's still reading, even if you're not reviewing.**

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Victoria knew when Sara's team returned. Not that they made any noise, but Victoria was sensitive to magic, to the charges in the air when it was present. Victoria could pick Sara out of a crowd of millions by her magical signature – one she knew as well as her own. Rhea`s wasn`t as singular in its familiarity, but it was unique. The other two, Rain and Akona, Victoria knew only by name and vaguely by face. Their signatures were familiar in that they were indirectly linked to Sara through fidelity, but one of them felt familiar for a reason that Victoria didn`t understand. The last signature - one that wasn`t linked to Sara in any way, shape or form, and one that Victoria knew she had never encountered - could only mean one thing: They had taken a prisoner.

Victoria flew down to the main level – the back of the building because prisoners were never allowed in high-traffic areas – and almost tripped over her own feet when she saw the man standing in front of her.

He looked to be her age, but nothing about him could be referred to as ``boyish". He was the single most gorgeous creature she had ever seen, mortal or magical. He had dark hair – so brown she would have called it black if her vision wasn`t so good. His eyes were a rich, dark brown. The light revealed the warm, reddish tone deep inside. She could tell he was strong, even if his baggy clothing concealed his body and his shackles made him look submissive. She could sense a latent power in him – a possibility of greatness that was intoxicating to feel.

" 'Toria," Rain nodded to Victoria as she passed. The nickname was so intimate that Victoria felt she knew this woman somehow better than she remembered.

"Look what we caught." Rhea snarled, prodding the man with the toe of her boot. "They just left him lying around where _anybody_ could pick him up.

The man growled quietly in his throat. It sounded strangled, like he was trying to hold it back, but they all looked at him like he had just pulled out a weapon.

"Alright," Akona pushed him forwards from behind. He placed his body between the prisoner and the group, his voice protective. "Let's get moving."

"Where are you putting him?" Victoria asked.

"Where he belongs." Sara glowered at the man's back, her hatred so intense for one single prisoner. And not a very important one, if he hadn't been guarded.

"The gates of Hell aren't at your disposal." Rhea smirked. "But the dungeon will do."

The four of them took turns prodding the man down the steps, their feet, hands and weapons urging him on. Victoria wanted to follow, but didn't. Her presence would only irk Sara, and she didn't need to follow them to know where they were headed. Any prisoner who could evoke such vicious expressions from all four people would only go to _the _cell. Farthest from the entrance, cold, dank, damp and dreary, it was a place they put prisoner's who they didn't ever expect to leave.

Victoria, like Ruling familes' children before her, knew the reality of her world. She knew that people were tortured beneath the floors of her home, knew her mother and her closest friends were administering the torture, knew that people were imprisoned and _died _in those prisons daily, but she had never actually seen it happen. Not that she was actually _seeing _the attractive young man get tortured, but she knew, and that was almost worse. She did take comfort in the fact that neither Rhea nor Sara were "persuading" him to answer their questions, but Akona had dismissed them too hastily for any reason other than the grotesque. As they rounded the corner, Victoria saw a flash of brown hair and pale skin that looked so much like her mother that she uttered the word before she thought it through.

"Mom," she started, but it couldn't be. Her mother was behind her placing a steadying hand on her shoulder.

"Vic?"

"I…I thought I saw you."

"Where." Sara's voice had an edge to it, now. She placed herself in front of Victoria, not having to say that any impersonator would not be a friend.

"Around the corner."

"Life couldn't just be simple," Sara muttered as she edged around the corner. Victoria could see the near-invisible shimmering around her mother's hands that indicated veiled magic. She crept softly up the last stair, Rhea bringing up the rear, and her mother held out a warning hand. "I go first."

Sara's back was turned towards the wall, both fisted hands shivering with anticipation. Victoria knew how long it had been since Sara had fought – even been in the presence of a real threat. Sara was still for so long that Victoria considered breaking her orders and going up to cover her, but her mother straightened and the fire in her hands went out.

"Last thing I would have expected." She said with a surprised laugh. From over her mother's shoulder, she could see the bobbing heads of people she couldn't fully see. Rhea moved forward then, obscuring even that view.

"I heard about the…boy." And then Victoria knew why she had been so confused.

"You would." Sara muttered, but she wasn't displeased.

"And oh my God, you've gotten tall." Jordan turned away from Sara to look at Victoria. She and Victoria's mother shared so many of the same traits, they were always easily confused, even by those who knew them best.

"Just trying to catch up to you." And indeed, at 5"9, Jordan's height was something to aspire to.

"Sure, take away my last advantage."

"Sorry, vic." Sara held up a hand in interruption, and captured Jordan's attention. "Who told you?"

"Violet."

"_Violet?_ She wasn't even there."

"But I was," Rain said, only now clearing the top step. "and what I know, Violet knows."

"And why are," she stabbed a finger behind Jordan. "_they _here?"

With the pleasant surprise of Jordan's arrival, Victoria had disregarded the presence of the five people near the wall. She shouldn't have, because they were all as familiar to her as her own mother. Sara had insisted that she and Victoria lived out their lives in the considerably safer mortal realm, so Victoria knew her mother's five co-workers better than she knew any of her magical friends. Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes and Greg Sanders had been extensions of her family since the moment she was born. They had been baby sitters, aunts and uncles, and permanent fixtures in her life for as long as she could remember, and even before that.

They all had power within themselves, given to them by one of Sara's patron Goddesses years before Victoria's birth. While they were technically magical beings, they knew very little of their skills and, frankly, seemed to _care _very little. Victoria had always regarded them more as mortals-with-party-tricks than magicals-in-disguise.

"They're here because I brought them," Jordan said. "Violet told me everything."

"We don't need a group of ten to interrogate one man."

"_Everything_, Sar. Including the severity of the situation, which you conveniently left out of our conversations."

"I didn't want you involved." Sara lowered her voice. "I made that perfectly clear."

"And I've undermined your authority for years." Jordan looped her arm around Sara's shoulders to soften the blow of her words. "We make a good team that way."

"Don't know why I put up with you." Sara frowned, but there was laughter in her eyes as she surveyed her friends. "I guess you're here to stay, then?"

"Here to _help_." Nick amended.

"Alright," she looked at her watch. "We'll have dinner, then we'll talk."

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**A/N: Maybe this wasn't the heroic return you'd been expecting, but hey, they're back! **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry for the holdup on this chapter, and thanks to Sophie and csiaddict2 for reviewing the last chapter. It's always nice to hear what people think.**

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Dinner had been awkward that night, the air heavy with unasked questions and unspoken worries. As it was, very few people had spoken at all. They had unwittingly branched off into small groups around the long table. The entire house ate together in what used to be the great hall. It was unusual for the entire household not to take part in the same general conversation, but the air of tension the new arrivals brought to the table split the household into groups, each holding separate and private conversations. Within Sara's group of friends and close followers, the CSI team was split into their own small group, talking about work and the change in the magical world. Sara's group consisted of Rhea, Violet and Rain, and Jordan. Victoria had sought out her magical friends after she gleaned that Sara's conversation would revolve around the political.

"They've caused some upheaval." Violet waved her fork in the direction of the CSI team.

"Really?" Rain looked surreptitiously over her shoulder. "I hadn't noticed." Violet poked her with a utensil and hid her smile.

"Are they really that prejudiced against mortal changeovers?" Jordan looked down the table much more openly than Rain had, but nobody noticed.

"They don't see them as changeovers. In the eyes of everyone at this table, they're still mortal." She saw Jordan open her mouth to protest and shook her head. "_Everyone_, Jordan. Even you. Even me_." _

Jordan looked down at the table and traced the wood with her finger. As harsh as Sara sounded, Jordan knew she wasn't lying. There wasn't anyone who could look at the CSI team and think they belonged in the magical world. But Jordan also knew that Sara needed people on her side who she could trust, and even if she couldn't trust her colleagues' magical skills, she could still trust them as people. That was why Jordan had sought them out in the first place after she had heard how bad the situation with the Ruler was getting. Part of the problem, she knew, was that Sara wouldn't admit to herself that she had let it get this bad. Her life in the mortal realms was for Victoria, and she didn't like to admit that there were harsh consequences to that life. Consequences that, for the most part, she didn't even know about.

"Will they work alongside them?" Rhea waved her hands towards the magicals and CSIs respectively to differentiate them in her mangled sentence.

"If I tell them to, they'll have no choice." Sara sighed and massaged a temple. "They're honour bound to do what I say."

"If you order them around, do it carefully." Rhea murmured. "Last time you were here, they were bound in a different way. They were bound because you were all there was. Now, if you anger them, they'll leave." She looked inadvertently towards the window. "You're no longer the only choice."

It was just beginning to get dark on the roof when Jordan found Sara later that night. She was sitting on the side of a parapet, her feet dangling down into darkness with the reckless abandon of an immortal. Jordan sat much more carefully, within an I-fall-and-you-catch-me distance of Sara. Though her friend had to know she was there, she didn't acknowledge her presence with as much as a blink in her direction.

"I know." Jordan said finally, quietly. "I know how much you're going through."

"Of course you do." Sara laughed mirthlessly. "Why do you think I've been hiding all this from you?"

"At first I thought it was to protect me, but then Violet told me how bad it's gotten…"

"This is why." Sara's eyes were pleading when she looked at Jordan for the first time, and ringed with damp, red skin. "I can't deal with the emotionality of you being here. I can only have one person inside my head right now, and that person has to be me."

"You need help." Jordan said quietly, candid as only she could be. "And if it's not going to come from somebody here, it's going to come from me."

"It's not that I need help," Sara muttered. "I just don't…"

"Want to be here? Want to be the Ruler?"

"No, that's an honour, obviously. It's complicated." She sighed, and Jordan looked at her expectantly. Sara looked back with a newly hardened expression.

"Remember how I said I only needed one person in my head?" She asked, and this time her voice had the unmistakable tone of an order being given. "That person _cannot _be you."

"It won't be." Jordan let out an exasperated sigh. "But I _am _fighting with you. Side by side, the way it should be."

"And I appreciate it." Sara turned her head away and looked off into the dusk.

"This is a nice spot you've got up here. Good view, perfect for sniping enemies, and with just enough life threatening height to be exciting. You really know how to pick 'em."

Sara let out a short, surprised burst of laugher, as if she couldn't fathom how it had come from her. "It's not that exciting. I can jump off this roof."

"You _would _say that."

"It's not hearsay." Sara smiled even wider. "I've done it."

Jordan's grin dissolved from her face. As near-indestructible as Sara was, jumping off roofs wasn't a good idea for anybody.

"When was it?" As much as Jordan hated to see Sara's rare smile wiped from her face, she needed to know whether she needed to lock the roof access.

"Not recently." Sara said, then saw Jordan's face and continued with a heavy sigh. "It was around the time Victoria started growing into her powers. When she realized all that she could do."

"What happened?" Jordan kept her voice soft, not demanding anything from her friend.

"Nothing big. She was just experimenting, trying out her powers, discovering their functions, figuring out how to employ them, and the Ruler's people were putting some heat on my people, and Rhea was being kind of vicious..." she shrugged and looked down at the ground wistfully. "I landed it, you know. Triple backflip in the air and came down on my feet."

"But you won't try it again." No matter how much Sara enjoyed using her strange, incomparable powers to do unimaginable things, Jordan had to be firm. Sara shook her head in confirmation.

"I was darker then." She said. Jordan nodded and took her friend's hand, but didn't say anything. Between the two, right then, nothing needed to be said.

**A/N: As always, nothing much to say here except thanks for reading and please review! See you next chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I'm sure you all know how it goes: I got caught up in life and Eternal suffered the consequences. But Eternal is of a perseverent sort and patiently awaited the day when I would return to it. So, four months later, here we are at chapter 8. I hope you're all still with me because this time I can assure you that Eternal will continue plowing forth towards the epic conclusion of the OTE triad, but it won't happen for a while so, without further ado, let's all strap in for the ride. Thanks for waiting. I assure you, it's way worth it.**

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Victoria knew she was breaking orders. Not that her mother had specifically _told _her not to go exploring the dungeon halls, but it was an unspoken order that was followed by every inhabitant of the manor. The only people allowed down here were Rhea, Rain and Violet, Jordan, Akona and Sara herself, and Victoria knew that nobody on that short list would approve of her being here. Despite all that, she had to know. She saw the way Sara and Rhea had looked at each other on their way up the stairs the previous evening, saw the harsh prods Rain had given the man on his way to the cells, saw the unmistakable distance in Violet's eyes as she looked into the minds of her companions and the man simultaneously. Creeping around the building late at night like she wasn't supposed to, she even saw the state of Akona's clothing on his way back from his "conversation" with the prisoner. Normal captives required the attentions of one, maybe two people. This man had Sara and her tightly knit group _all _on edge. He hadn't been guarded so he couldn't be important, but something was making them act the way they were acting. Something Victoria didn't know but had to find out.

Early morning light filtered in from outside and Victoria knew she was running out of time. Rhea hadn't fallen asleep until almost sunrise and most of the warriors trained early. She had a small window of opportunity, but she was determined to use it. The man's cell was the last in the hall, dead-ending against a solid stone wall reinforced by magical wards that were renewed every week. It was not a cell one escaped.

Walking through the damp passageways, Victoria kept her tread light. Waking up and one of the dangerous people lining the hall would provoke more noise than she wanted. There were wards in the place of guards, but the magic was equally sensitive to noise. Sensitive enough that, had Victoria so much as squeaked when a hand clamped down on her upper arm, piercing howls would have penetrated the air.

Violet's purple eyes were as stony as her grip on Victoria. She jerked her head back the way Victoria had come and said "Let's have a talk, shall we."

Victoria grimaced and turned back around. Violet had the advantage here in more ways than one, the most obvious being that she was allowed to be in the dungeons in the first place. When they cleared the last ward, Violet jerked Victoria down a compact hallway to their left. It was unlit and clammy, but there was a door up ahead with the soft shimmer of magic engrained in the wood. Violet swept her hand across the surface and the door swung open, revealing a small and neat, albeit neglected looking room. The door swung shut silently and Violet flopped onto the bed, her eyes trained on the ceiling. Victoria took the padded chair that was the only other seating in the small space.

"If anybody other than me was down there, you would be so screwed right about now." Violet rubbed her eyes. "As it is, I'm not sure what to do with you."

"Let me go?" Even as she asked, Victoria knew that wasn't a real option. If Violet had intended on putting the incident behind them, she would have done it.

"If I did that, would you promise me never to try again."

"Abso – "

"Would you swear it in blood?"

Victoria was silent. A blood oath was serious – more serious a promise than she wanted to make.

"That's what I thought. You can't do stuff like this, Vic. It's not safe."

"I want to know what's so important that you're dragged out of sleep for guard duty. There are _never _guards down there – the wards are too good."

"I was there to intercept you, Vic. It wasn't by chance that I was so far away from the cell."

"But the wards– "

" –were disabled because I wanted to have this talk with you before getting your mother involved. If she thinks your being here is putting your life in danger, she'll take you back."

"And you need her here." Victoria waved an absent hand. "How did you know I was there if the wards were off?"

"You told me yourself." Violet tapped Victoria's temple. "Honestly, Vic. I do watch for this type of stuff. It's kind of my job."

"I just wanted to know."

"If I were you, so would I. You just have to wait until you're old enough and well trained enough to earn that privilege in your own right."

"That won't happen."

"It wouldn't to most, but you're Sara's daughter. If you're lucky, one day this mess might come your way."

"I don't want to rule it!"

"Nobody does, Vic, but somebody has to." Violet rolled onto her stomach and looked Victoria right in the eye. "Right now, that somebody is your mother. And…oh this sounds bad…we can't afford to let her leave."

"So I'm your ace in the hole?"

"This doesn't mean you have any sort of upper hand." Violet said dangerously. "I will tie you up in this room if I have to."

"I'd just bribe my way out."

"This is Rain's room and she's on my side." Then Violet sat up and looked at Victoria seriously. "All joking aside, you can't do this again."

"Why don't you tell me about this guy, then?"

"If it was something you needed to know, I would."

"Come _on_, Violet. I thought we were friends."

"We are, but Vic…" A look of frustration crossed Violet's face. "I'm bound to do what your mother wants – duty bound, honour bound, blood bound…any type of bound you want. Even if I wanted to tell you, I wouldn't be able to. But as friends – as a promise from me to you, and I won't tell your mother – you need to stay away from there. We have good reasons for keeping you away and I hope you'd respect us enough to listen."

"After all the time she's kept me away from here, I don't want to listen to her."

"Your mother had her reasons." Violet grimaced. "But this isn't about her. This was a decision made by Rhea, Rain and I, Akona, Jordan and everyone who knows you best, _along _with your mother. We need you to stay away, at least until things calm down. Promise me now, please."

"I can't, Violet." As much as the desperate plea in Violet's eyes made Victoria want to agree, a part of her was still drawn to the beautiful boy in the dungeons – a part that she knew she couldn't ignore.

Violet took her hand and rubbed a soft finger against it. "I'm sorry that's your answer," she whispered, and the world exploded in a flash of purple light.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Victoria woke in the dark. The air tasted damp and she knew instinctively that she wasn't in her room. She waved a hand and a candle in the corner burst into life, then she recognized the room. From the night before and her conversation with Violet, she remembered it belonged to Rain. Then Victoria remembered that she _shouldn't _remember half the things she did from the previous night.

What Violet had attempted was a mind sweep. Victoria had studied it but had never seen one done. It consisted of a mind reader – a _powerful _mind reader – probing the thoughts of their subject and removing any they found undesirable for one reason or another. If you were a mind reader who could perform a successful mind sweep, you didn't mention it. Anyone who could access enough of a person's mind to remove memories could do other things while they were in there – remove brain functions and reduce any magical, no matter how powerful, to a mindless slave. It wasn't an attractive image. Up until now, Victoria hadn't even suspected that Violet had that type of power. And if Victoria didn't suspect it, as close to Violet as she was, a lot of others were in the dark as well.

The real question was why Victoria remembered any of it. Mind readers didn't attempt sweeps unless they were absolutely certain they would succeed. Violet's magic had knocked Victoria out and made her memories a little fuzzy, but the more severe effects of the magic had simply slid away. Victoria wiggled her glowing fingers in front of her face as if she expected to see something different then the blue-gold shimmer she saw every day.

"Cool." She murmured, blowing the candle out on her way out the door. Now that Violet thought she was in the free and clear, Victoria was free to do what she wished, and there was only one thing she really wanted.

Now that she knew her magic was resistant to the substantial power of Violet's, Victoria was willing to take a chance. She didn't stop at the dungeon wards but simply envisioned what she wanted them to do and threw her hands up. She heard the faint shimmer as the deactivated, but no warning signs. She didn't wait to find out if it would stay that way and blew down the hall. She didn't stop until she was standing at the last cell in the hall. Looking out at her was the boy, his cinnamon eyes looking out as if he had been expecting her. As before, the thrill of him shot through her.

"You." He said, sounding pleasantly surprised.

"You know me?"

"I saw you. Before, in the…"

"That was me." She smiled at him with only a slight air of superiority. "I'm Victoria."

"Michael." He said, and they shook hands through the bars.

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**(was it worth the break?)**


	9. Chapter 9

"Someone's been naughty."

Violet jumped and a flare of purple light escaped her closed fists. "Jesus, Rain. Don't _do_ that."

"You're such an easy target; how could I resist?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in…"

"If anybody asks, I am." Rain stretched out on the overstuffed couch pushed against Violet's wall. As a more conspicuous member of Sara's staff, Violet had a bigger, more opulent room than her sister, but the arrangement suited them both.

"What are you doing here?"

Rain's eyes lazily combed the walls for any sign of intrusion and raised the listening spells on Violet's walls with a twitch of her fingers. "My spymaster has me on a different target than the officially sanctioned one."

"The boy?"

"The girl."

"Victoria?"

"No, you've got her covered." Rain grinned wickedly. "But you're closer."

Violet's brow knit in confusion for a moment, then realization dawned on her face. "_Sara_?"

"Bingo."

"Akona has you watching Sara without her knowing?"

"Say it louder, why don't you." But Rain wasn't concerned. As soon as she had been sworn into Akona's service, he had trained her specifically to produce flawless spells against watching, listening and a host of other things regular mages didn't know how to do. Even if the door had been open, anybody standing on the threshold wouldn't have heard a thing.

"Why."

"That's classified."

"Come _on_, Rai. I'm your sister."

"I already break enough rules, telling you what I do."

"You're no fun."

"Well, neither are you. If you'd told me, I would have helped you ambush Victoria in the dungeon hall last night."

"You knew."

"Of course I knew," She smiled slyly. "It's kind of my job to know everything."

"You can't tell Sara."

"Why, Vi?" Rain's mouth was set in a serious line. "What you're doing is treachery."

"How do you think she'd react if she knew?" Violet whispered. "Do you think she'd stay here with her if she knew? She's protective – _too _protective – and she would have Vic out of here the minute she found out."

"What are you going to do?"

"Talk to your boss."

"Akona? What can he do?"

"I'm going to ask him to put people on her."

"Permanent guards?"

"If I could watch her every second of the day, I'd do it myself, but if Sara needs to be in the dark, I need to keep up my normal duties. Vic needs a chaperone whether she likes it or not, and Akona will help. He cares for her and I know he'll do it in the name of the realms, even if he isn't bound to Sara like I am."

"This is dangerous. If she finds out…"

"If I have my way," Violet said with a dark grin, "she won't have to."

Sara was standing somewhere she hadn't thought she'd be – in the training ring, in front of her colleagues in the middle of a very tense political climate. She had envisioned their next group training session as happening in peacetime, somewhere they could do what they needed to do without fear of attack or failure.

"If someone comes up behind you and from above," Sara explained, "which they're more than likely to do since most of the Ruler's people are demons with wings, you have to be ready. You have to listen and use your magic as an extra sense so you'll know a hundred percent of the time where each and every opponent is. This is difficult, but you have to try it."

Sara had filled the training room with as many guards and mages as she could spare. They were packed tightly within the stone walls, obstructing the CSIs' view of one another and of Sara.

"You will be swarmed," she said. "or _expect_ you'll be swarmed. He's not going to be courteous and send opponents your way one by one. He's going to be vicious because he wants what you're protecting." She let her eyes touch on the guards and mages. "Swarm them. Take no prisoners."

They surged into action, movement echoing like a wave in the circular room. There were no corners to hide in, no convenient roofs to climb on or trees to topple as a diversion. This was as real as it got, but they weren't ready for anything real. They fumbled with their weapons, stuttered out their spoken commands and were all "dead" before they had a chance to fight back.

The pressure wasn't helping.

"Don't think about the people," Sara said. "Think about _you. _Don't dwell on the number of opponents or how armed they are. Dwell only on who is coming towards you at that moment – the person closest to you and what will happen to you if they make one of a thousand moves they could possibly make. Then think about the next person, and the next until there are no people left"

Sara motioned for them to stand up and try again. They were still sloppy, still amateurs, but they got in more hits. Not as many as they took, but more. Their technique was awful, the sign of a long period of no practice, and their magic was weak.

"Split up," Sara told the guards. "Two of you per one of them. Any extras, split yourselves between groups. Teach them how to do this – teach them everything you know."

"Everything?" One of the guards raised his eyebrows. "We've had years to learn, they'll have weeks if they're lucky, probably days, hours if…"

"I know," She said. "But give them a crash course. Make them learn." She looked at her colleagues, picking each one out of the group and holding them with her gaze. "They have no choice."

Later, when the world was cloaked in darkness and the halls were silent but for her footsteps, Victoria descended the stairs to the bottom levels. She was more careful this time – Violet could be around any corner or listening in to her thoughts. She was careful to think of innocent things – her schoolwork, television she was missing, her mortal and magical friends, none of whom she was able to see. They were the same thoughts any other girl would be having – thoughts any magical who divided their life between two realms would be having. Nothing should have set off warning bells, and nothing did. Victoria threw down the wards like she had the previous night, and there was nobody waiting around the corner to jump out and accuse her of breaking rules.

They would have been right, but still.

Michael was asleep on the filthy floor when she got there – no real surprise since her visit was unannounced. She crumbled a weak piece of stone off the wall and threw it at him. It met its mark and he sat up with a start but no noise. He was good.

"You again." He said with a smile. It was warmer than it should have been considering what her people had done to him. He had a good smile.

"Yeah, fancy meeting you here."

"Oh, I took your spot, didn't I? Sorry. I'd give it up if I could, but," he shrugged. "What can you do?"

She laughed softly. Sleeping on a dirty, cold stone floor and he still had a sense of humour. She was impressed.

"To what do I owe the pleasure this evening," he asked, sitting cross legged as close to the bars as he could. He understood silence – he was smart, too.

"I was in the neighbourhood."

"I highly doubt that – I know about the wards – but I'm flattered that you'd lie on my behalf."

"Don't get too excited." This was something Victoria understood well, and something she hadn't expected to find here, deep underground. The witty repartee between a young man and a girl like her was familiar. If it hadn't been such an absurd situation, she would have called it flirting. "I have a couple questions."

"You've been beaten to the punch – quite literally." He displayed a set of purpling bruises on his bare chest. "That guy has a wicked arm."

"Akona. He's…yeah, he does."

"So first they send the hard-ass, then they send the pretty girl for a second round of questions? Is that how this works?" Strangely, he didn't sound angry or jaded, simply curious.

"This isn't official questioning. Feel free to be as candid as you like."

"So I don't have to worry about offending anyone? Good. Well, first off, the food here sucks. I'm sure I would change my opinion if I could get any, but, you know. Take the hand you're dealt."

"Here." She rolled her eyes at his pathetic act – which she wasn't sure was an act at all – and let her magic pool into a sandwich.

"Thanks." He fell on the sandwich and talked through a mouthful. "Ask away."

"What got you here?" As in the previous night, time was pressing. Victoria really only wanted to know one thing, and their back and forth had wasted time.

"Born wrong."

"What?"

"My father disagrees with your leader. They think I'm like him."

"Aren't you?" She asked, standing up. She had her answer and he had his dinner. She was sure she would see him again, provided Akona didn't start questioning again and go overboard.

"I don't want to get into nature vs nurture with you, but no, I'm not."

"I bet that's what they all say, right?"

"Probably." He winked and she laughed her way down the hall.


	10. Chapter 10

Most mothers told cautionary tales to keep their children from harm – tales of people and creatures that would take everything from you and call it their own. Violet and Rain's mother told them tales of how to become those people. She had been ambitious and hell-bent on taking the Capretian government for herself. She hadn't been a revolutionary – her cause wasn't organized enough to be named anything recognizable. She was simply a woman who wanted more than she could have.

Violet had understood from a very young age that what their mother was doing was wrong. Violet was ambitious, but in a perfectly constructive, legal way. She was like her father who, though their mother had called him bland a boring, was a hard worker and strove to build things, not destroy them. So between the two of them, Violet and Rain were perfect symbols of their parents: Rain had the family ambition, but it mirrored their mother's perfectly.

"Look," She drew Violet's finger across a map. "There's a ridge just here. When they walk beneath, we can get them from above."

"That would be murder, Rai." Violet waved a hand through the projected image that Rain had made manifest in the air – a macabre scene of loosed bowstrings and rivers of the blood of innocents.

"They're sympathizers." Rain's eyes narrowed.

"They're still people, and they haven't done anything wrong."

"You're no fun."

"When you're like this, neither are you." Violet levelled a hard stare at her sister. Rain's ambition scared her, and not because Violet had always been protective. Rain, when she was in one of these moods, didn't listen to reason. She wouldn't listen to anybody or anything – she wouldn't even pay attention to anything short of physical combat. And her plans she only revealed to Violet because they were sisters, and because deep down she still thought that their mother's blood lay dormant in Violet's body.

"It's for the good of Sara."

"It's to fuel your own desire for blood and combat, and don't you lie and say otherwise."

"It's a genius plan, Vi. Think about it: if we eliminate all the sympathizers, who's the Ruler going to fight with. In one-on-one, Sara would win."

"No she wouldn't."

"Well," Rain considered. "Rhea, then. She could."

"That, I don't doubt. But we can't go around exterminating all the people we think are sympathizers, especially since most of them haven't done anything against us. And we wouldn't even be sure. And it's murder, and that's wrong."

"You could check."

"And how do you propose I do that?"

"You know how." Rain tapped Violet's forehead. "You comb their minds, and if they're sympathizers, we do what needs to be done."

Violet's mind went blank. She knew Rain – better than anyone ever had or probably ever would – but she hadn't been expecting this. Rain was single-minded and careless with her own safety, but she was always careful about Violet's. Suggesting that Violet comb the mind of every single person expected of having even the slightest sympathetic feelings for the Ruler meant that Violet would have to expend almost all of her energy day after day, and Rain knew as well as anyone how quickly energy could wear out. What Rain was suggesting could, and probably would, kill Violet within weeks if they weren't careful.

"I wouldn't ever, even if there was a way to make sure I _would _live through it." She pulled her fingers through Rain's hair while letting equally dextrous fingers of magic sift through the outer layer of her thoughts. "What's gotten into you?"

"It's a good plan." Rain was utterly confident about her scheme, but her mind whispered _I just want it to be over_.

"Rai…"

"Out of my head." Rain crossed the room and danced her fingers along the wall, leaving trails of aqua and silver behind her. "Please, Vi? You're strong and you're powerful and everyone who knows who or what you are will cooperate because they know what you have the potential to do."

"I overturned Caprety with you RaiRai, but only because it was rotten inside. I won't do anything to people who haven't done anything wrong."

"Vio, please?"

"No. And you're not going either."

"This isn't trivial Violet, and you can't keep me from it."

"I can and I will. You know what happened to mom, and it's the same thing that'll happen to you if you aren't careful."

"I'm not mom."

"You're beginning to resemble her an awful lot."

"Why do you say it like it's a bad thing?" Rain tipped her head to one side as if the new angle would help her understand something about Violet that she never had. "Mom was noble and worked hard for what she believed in. She died for her cause; she was like a martyr."

"Mom was overambitious, violent, cold, unreasonable and _stupid_." Violet snapped. "And she died because what she was doing was wrong, and because she couldn't even break the law competently."

"You always did hate her."

"Because I remember what she was like."

"I remember her too; you're not that much older than I am, Vi."

"I'm old enough to remember how cruel she was, even to her newborn daughter."

"She loved me."

"She was grooming you," Violet corrected. Tendrils of purple fire seeped from Violet's fisted hands as she angered. "because she wanted you to become exactly what she was. She wanted you to be cruel and stupid too, and she resented me – _hated _her own daughter – because I saw into her awful, awful mind and knew what she was planning for you. She wanted the blood of innocents, and she wanted you to want it too."

"She wanted a student."

"She wanted a _slave_." Violet yelled, and fingers of magic cracked the walls. "She wanted you to hate everything she hated, and that included me."

"I love you, Vio. You know that."

"Only because she died before she could make you her clone."

"Hey," Rain's voice held an unmistakable warning. "She couldn't have taken this," she gestured to the space between Violet and herself. "from us."

"She can and she would have, just like she took parts of you that you don't even know to miss."

"Like what, Vi?" Rain's voice was cold. "Am I stupid? Cruel? Vicious? Am I everything you hated about her and more?"

"You aren't," Violet said, and the cracks deepened as her voice smouldered. "But she was, and you still could be." She turned from her sister and walked away as the walls of the room collapsed behind her.


	11. Chapter 11

"You were not born to this."

Rhea stood in front of Sara's colleagues and tried to pretend that her demon blood wasn't pounding through her veins like drumbeats. As the days went by, as the Ruler got closer, it became harder and harder to contain her darker side. The changes were small – her temper was more easily provoked, longer fingernails that verged on talons when she was angry, and everything about her was a shade darker – and she wasn't sure if anybody noticed them, but they were undeniably there. And when the Ruler's demons fought her and her people, which was inevitable, she was no longer sure whose side she would end up fighting for. With that in mind, she had taken it upon herself to teach everybody she could how to fight demons. Sara's colleagues were the most pressing group of all. They were inexperienced and more of a burden than an asset to the movement as a whole, but Sara's trust was a fickle thing. The only people Rhea was confident Sara trusted were the people who had fought alongside her in her first petition against the Ruler. With many of them dead, disappeared or mentally broken, that group was small.

"You were not born to this," Rhea repeated. "Magic, fighting, and especially fighting demons are things you don't know and were never taught. You will be at a disadvantage in every battle you fight. You are weak and tactically stupid, and the only reason you've lived this long is because Sara is very good at what she does and because she cares for you."

"It _is _a fair statement." Violet, at Rhea's back, looked directly at Nick and answered his unspoken thought. "Everything we're taught about combat dictates that we not involve individuals who weaken the group, which you do. And even if we do involve the weak, reason and self-preservation say we leave you to live or die at your own hand. Sara cares for you, and the lot of us," Violet swept her hand in a broad motion to include all the absent warriors who were pledged to Sara's service. "are bound to Sara through oaths. Those of us you're familiar with – Rain and I, Akona, Jordan – are bound to her through blood. We fight for you because she wants us to. So yes, Rhea is being fair when she says that you're not alive because of your own power."

"The imminent battle will not be the same as others you've fought." Rhea said "Sara and the Ruler can't keep going back and forth in conflict like this. They've fought three battles so far, and this one will be the last. Sara's fed up at living with a foot in two worlds, and the Ruler is a demon, and they're not a patient sort. This battle will be a traditional one. Vows or not, people are going to be fighting for _their _lives, not yours."

As she spoke of demons, Rhea could feel her skin prickle as she fought to keep it from becoming the harder, thicker demon skin it wanted to. _Not yet. Not until we're ready_. She could feel the pull of her joints as they fought to shift, the tug of her fingers as she kept them from becoming claws. Her shoulder blades ached and hot fingers of blood ran down her back where her dark, translucent wings were starting to break free.

_ Violet._ Rhea's thought was a plea and Violet winced as it assaulted her mind.

_No._ Violet thought, but Rhea couldn't hear her.

Violet wasn't ready, but she probably never would be. She was there for one purpose, and it wasn't to teach. Violet knew next to nothing about demons, and even less about how to fight them and win. Violet was there that day as a conduit and a puppeteer. She was there because she was powerful and because she was strong. She was there to weave her consciousness into Rhea's and control her friend's every move. She was there to pick thoughts on battle and defense from Rhea's brain and relay them to the team as they learned to fight for themselves. She was there, but she was terrified.

_ Violet._ Rhea's thoughts were coloured with pain and struggle. Violet saw how Rhea's skin flickered briefly, how her eyes had darkened. She pulled at threads of Rhea's mind and pictured braiding them together with strands of her own. As she made the bond stronger and stronger, she could feel how hard Rhea was working to keep herself human, or as near to human as she had ever been. Violet could feel Rhea's pain like it was her own, and as she wove together their minds, Rhea's struggle to maintain her humanity became _Violet's _struggle. Rhea was no longer in control, and Violet could feel in her friend's thoughts the immense relief that brought. A moment more of weaving, and Violet looked into her friend's colourless eyes and nodded.

_ Yes._ She thought, and Rhea exploded.

The change took milliseconds, but as it screamed through Violet's mind, it felt like years. She could feel the momentary agony as Rhea's skin became like leather, as her fingers became talons, as the razor-sharp tips of her whisper-weigh wings tore from her back. The worst part was the part that the team couldn't see – the part inside Rhea's head. Inside _Violet's_ head. As the change tore apart Rhea's body, the thoughts of demons tore apart her mind. Everything malevolent about the world flooded her thoughts and coloured her vision in red. Images of blood, war, violence and terror were met with anticipation and a sick joy. Violet wanted to throw up on the grass. She wanted to push Rhea back into her own mind, but that wasn't an option. In the corner of the demon's mind was the human Rhea, her thoughts of reason and order, of logic and love and friendship and mercy. But the demon was strong and hungry for existence. Unmooring the demon's mind from Violet's own would mean setting the demon free, because as she was now, Rhea would be hard pressed to change back on her own.

Inside Violet's mind, Rhea sighed in contentment. _This is nice._

Violet tested her control over the demon's body, making it lift one arm, letting it flap its wings. It rose a foot off the ground and dropped awkwardly, the torn remnants of Rhea's clothes fluttering around it. Violet had to admit it was strangely fascinating to see Rhea as a demon. As a halfling, Rhea didn't have the avian-reptile body that most demons did. She had a human body with thick, ashen skin, talons that were long and glossy black, and wings that looked like they were made from cobwebs and ink.

_Give me something back_. Rhea directed, and Violet slowly let Rhea have some of her autonomy. She could feel as Rhea's mind and the demon's became one, as Rhea took control of the demon's body. Violet still had the upper hand – she could separate Rhea and the demon in seconds and force the demon to do what she wanted. Still, she wasn't sure how much she liked being only half in control.

Rhea examined her taloned hands and scratched experimentally at her arm. It made a harsh grinding sound, but her skin didn't break. Then she rose into the air, higher than Violet had let the demon go by itself, so high that Violet could barely see her. She let herself drop like a dead weight and landed as easily and as gracefully as if she had stepped from the air. Seeing Rhea like this, in her own body, holding nothing back, was strangely _right_. She didn't look pained or ill at ease. She looked like she belonged there, and that's what scared Violet the most.

The team returned bruised, bloody and disheartened as the sun was sinking below the horizon. Rhea was jubilant walking beside them, in no worse shape than she had been that morning, and her hair a deep raven-black. Her eyes were still fathomless, and she still smiled as if she dreamt of danger, but she was human once more. Violet, beside her, was exhausted.

"I take it they're not ready?" Was all Sara said when she saw the bedraggled group.

"They will be." Rhea said. "In time."

The group shuddered collectively as they imagined having another day like the one they had just experienced. Violet's knees buckled as _she _thought of having to share the demon with Rhea for another minute.

"They," Rhea grinned her demon grin. "don't like it."

"It's necessary." Sara's smile was more sympathetic. "Violet, I need to talk to you."

"_Now_?" Violet was having small battles with her eyelids every time she tried to blink.

"It won't take long. Rhea, you're free for the night."

"Come," She twirled Greg around and danced down the hall. "We'll all have fun."

The team grumbled after her, leaving Violet and Sara alone in the hall. On an unspoken cue, the two women went to Sara's office, raising the wards against listening at identical moments. The effort almost toppled Violet, but she knew the necessity was there.

"How did it go?"

"Badly for them." Violet sank to the floor, unmindful of how dirty it was or how she was probably breaking some sort of rule by sitting in the presence of her leader. "They need practice."

"And for her?"

"She was…fine."

"Did she react…"

"Exactly as we thought. She loved it. Every minute."

"God," Sara sighed and massaged her temples. "Every day, she gets closer…"

"To changing for good." Violet nodded her assent. "I've seen the signs."

"Her thoughts?"

"Ecstatic. She loves the freedom, the feeling, the power…"

"And her manerisms?"

"Natural. As natural as breathing. She was graceful and coordinated and _happy_. This isn't the first time she's done this lately, either. She's been changing without our knowledge."

"And she can come back from it?"

"Apparently so. But it's the future I'm worried about."

"With so many demons coming so close…"

"Her blood sings for them, Sara. She wants to be in the horde."

Sara looked more worried than Violet had ever seen her. Her leader was a generally unflappable person. It took something big to put that fear in her eyes.

"She has my power, Violet. She leads this mess in ways I don't even know. She is their master and commander. If she leaves, everything will fall apart."

Sara's thoughts were tangled with fear even as Violet said. "Nonsense. You're their leader, and you'll keep them together with or without Rhea." But inside, Violet knew that was a lie. Sara, for all the magic she had pounding through her veins, was very much of mortal mind. Violet couldn't bring herself to believe the lies, even as they poured from her mouth.


	12. Chapter 12

Rhea was roused early the next morning by a messenger at her door and she answered glowing with darkness.

"What."

The messenger looked at her with terror in his eyes and gestured down the hall. "High Council."

"_Now_?"

"She only told me to bring you."

Rhea closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing back a prickle of annoyance. "Alright."

They threaded the hall together, but the messenger turned away from the council hall. Rhea said nothing, but her raised eyebrow was question enough.

"It's not a formal meeting," he explained.

"Nothing ever is." Rhea sighed and rolled her eyes when he stopped in front of Sara's bedroom doors. "but this is just ridiculous."

The messenger stopped a few feet from the door with the grace of a man walking into a wall and the confusion of one who couldn't see the wall in the first place. Rhea stepped through the wards as if they weren't there and nodded her thanks to the man as he turned back the way they had come.

The first thing Rhea saw when she entered the room was the tell-tale shimmer of wards coating the entire room. For a moment, the sight took her breath away. The only way to cause such an iridescent glow was to layer ward after ward on top of one another, and judging from the depth of the shimmer, Sara had thrown up almost every ward she knew.

Rhea took a seat beside Violet and gestured to Sara. "What's going on?"

Rhea was, by nature, a creature of the night in a way that Violet simply wasn't. Rhea was annoyed and cranky, but she didn't look as exhausted as Violet by a long shot.

"_Sara_," Violet spat out their friend's name, "wants to go on offense. Apparently she's lost her mind."

"I explained it to you," Sara sounded as tired as Violet.

"Explain it to _me_," Rhea leaned against the door frame and let her scepticism show.

"You'll never listen."

"Because I'm not tactically suicidal, but try me anyways."

"I don't want him any closer," Sara said, "Because he's a threat to us, our people and every village along the way." Violet made a _please elaborate_ gesture with her hand and Sara glared.

"She's also worried about you," Violet filled in harshly. "Because you're more demon these days than you are human. And don't try to lie about it because I've been in your head. She doesn't want him to get closer because it will push you closer to the edge, and eventually over it if we don't do something."

"You shouldn't have to teach people to fight you," Sara spoke over Violet's tirade diplomatically, but Rhea could see the truth in her eyes. "It's not fair to them, but it's also unfair to you after everything you've given them. You shouldn't be training them to kill you."

"You can't let the reality of what I am push you into doing something stupid." Rhea tried to calm Sara with her voice but her heart was pounding at what she saw when she looked at Sara. This meeting was a courtesy and nothing more. They weren't here to make a decision – the decision had already been made.

"We're going to do it," Sara said, "But we need you to be in the know."

"No. I'm coming with you."

"And what about the…" Sara's broad hand gesture could have meant anything but Rhea knew it meant "what about your demon blood?"

"I can handle it."

"Can you?" Violet asked harshly. "Can you _really_ convince us that if you're facing a group of demons, with only us behind you, that you'll fight on our side?"

"I'm not letting you march towards your deaths without me."

"Someone needs to stay here." Sara reminded her. "Someone needs to lead - to make it seem like nothing is wrong."

"And why can't that person be you? You're their leader."

"Not like you are."

"No." Rhea said. "If I'm their leader in the way you say I am, I can't sit by and allow a fight to go on without me. That's not my style."

"Then who's going to stay here, hmm? Not me, not you, not Vi…who else do you trust enough to lead this mess with everyone we know fighting alongside us."

"We'll leave some people behind, let them do it for us."

"And you would take someone you trust enough to lead in our stead away from our offensive team?"

"Rather than stay behind myself? Absolutely."

"Then who do you propose we leave behind?" Sara challenged. "We can spare a couple people who've fought with us before – people in a position to know what's going on, people we trust – but that won't be enough."

"Your team." Rhea didn't miss a beat and caught Sara off guard.

"Not a chance. We need them with us."

"We don't. Not by a long shot. They don't know what they're doing and they would only slow us down."

"Leaving them would also save you the emotional trauma of seeing them torn to pieces by demons," Violet added. "But that's just a thought."

"No. They come with us. They have merit."

"Merit beyond that they're the only people you seem to trust these days?" Rhea's eyes flashed. "Because that's going to get us killed."

Sara made a face as she considered, and softened as she gave. "At least some of them have to come with us."

"Nick and Catherine." Violet said. "They're the best."

"Warrick's good."

"Compared to the host of warriors you have at your disposal? Not even."

"Gil, then."

"He's a liability."

"He's coming." Sara's voice echoed with the double-timbre of a leader – it was an order and she wanted that to be very clear.

"Nick, Gil and Catherine, then. They're the only ones you get." Rhea said. "I choose the rest."

Sara's mouth opened as if she was going to protest, but she shut it with a snap when she saw the resolve in Rhea's eyes. "Fine." She sighed. "Agreed."

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Victoria hadn't fought in a long time – not with magic, not with swords, not with her hands – so being summoned to join an offensive party was a surprise. She was lined up between Rain, who was present at Violet's insistence, and Akona, who was present at Rhea's. As far as she could see down the line on either side of her, warriors were checking their weapons and mages were throwing glowing coloured sparks from their fingers in practice.

According to Rhea, Victoria was only there for Sara's peace of mind. Victoria's mother hadn't always been astonishingly attentive, but she worried when they were apart. Fighting, Rhea said, while worrying that Victoria wasn't sufficiently protected by the personnel left behind in the manor, would only distract Sara and keep her from fighting her best fight.

"Everyone try and familiarize yourself with your fellow fighters," Rhea yelled over the roar of murmuring voices. "I don't want anyone on our side caught in friendly crossfire, so be attentive and know your allies."

The crowd mixed, turning from a neat line to a writhing mass of weapons and limbs and introductions. Victoria, caught in the middle of it all, could barely see her hand in front of her face – if she could have moved her arm, that is.

"Hey," a face appeared in front of hers almost out of nowhere. The girl it belonged to couldn't have been more than a few years older than Victoria herself, but her build and the way she held herself gave away that she was much, much more experienced in a fight than Victoria could ever hope to be. She had red-brown hair that shone in the sun and eyes a perfect mix of grey and aqua – a mage as well as a fighter. "You're the mortal girl, right?"

"No," Victoria narrowed her eyes and let her power shine through them. "I just live there, and that's not my choice."

"Hey," the girl held up her hands in surrender. "No harm, no foul. I didn't mean it like it sounded. Hey, what wave are you?" Rhea had divided the attack into three waves, each one containing fighters of various disciplines and skill levels.

"Two."

"Hey, me too." The girl smiled. She patted the hilt of the sword strapped to her back. "You a swordswoman? Archer?"

"Just mage," Victoria replied with an edge.

"No need to get testy. I'm just trying to figure out who and what we have on our side. See that guy over there?" She pointed out a tall man, at least six foot five, with dark hair and a bow slung across his back. "Atanase: best archer we have in the fighting ranks. He's a good one to have. Including me we have four swordsmen, two archers, a shape shifter and now you. I bet we get a couple more mages and some hand to hand folks. All things considered, we're pretty well of."

"Great." Victoria deadpanned. "So we die slower."

"The goal would presumably be not to die at all, but I'll cut you a break." The girl smiled again.

"Who _are _you?" Victoria had never seen the girl before and, though she didn't usually experience bouts of classism, was starting to wonder where a common warrior got off being so familiar with the leader's daughter.

"Oh." The girl's eyes crinkled in amusement. "I guess we haven't really met before, have we?"

"No."

"Sorry. Well, I know you – everyone does – but I'm Juliet. Sara's daughter."


End file.
